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Melvin Wagstaff
Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff is the favorite nephew of Proposition Joe and a crew chief in his Eastside drug crew. Cheese is played by Method Man. Cheese is later killed by Slim Charles for Joe. Biography His great-grandfather was the first African-American to own his own house in Johnson Square. Cheese supplied Ziggy Sobotka with a narcotics package and, when he could not return its value, torched his car and threatened to kill him. Nick Sobotka and La La intervened on Ziggy's behalf but could only convince Cheese to give Ziggy more time. Cheese was forced to back down when Nick involved The Greek (Proposition Joe's suppliers). Cheese subsequently moved into Barksdale territory following an agreement with Stringer Bell, starting a rivalry with Bodie Broadus. Avon Barksdale unaware of the agreement, hired Brother Mouzone, who promptly shot Cheese in the arm and forced him to retreat. In Season three, Cheese was one of the major case unit's first targets as a possible route to Proposition Joe himself. Cheese avoided their surveillance efforts through disciplined use of his subordinates to make phone calls and only discussing business face to face, and was quickly promoted to supplying other dealers. Cheese kept a pet pit bull and participated in underground dog fights. When his dog lost a fight, Cheese shot it rather than seek treatment for its injuries. Cheese's soldier Triage suggested that Dazz, his opponent, may have cheated with another dealer, Jelly. Triage killed Jelly which triggered two further deaths and a short war between the rival crews. The major case unit arrested Jelly and Triage in the process of preparing for yet another skirmish. The unit mistakenly presumed Cheese was using code words to discuss a murder when they overheard him on a tapped phone describing how he shot his dog. After arresting Cheese, the unit interrogators revealed their faulty wiretap evidence to him in an effort to force his confession. Once the unit realized Cheese had been talking literally about killing an animal, he was released and promptly relayed his newfound knowledge of a wiretap program to his uncle, who alerted the gang to change their communications strategies to thwart further investigation. In Season four, Cheese remained a trusted member of Proposition Joe's inner circle. He acted as the go-between, supplying Joe's drugs to the various other Baltimore dealers in the Co-op, including Marlo Stanfield, and also picked up the drug deliveries from agents of The Greek. Omar Little tracked Cheese from Proposition Joe's office to one of these delivery sites during a major drop and stole the entire Baltimore heroin supply. When Omar sold the drugs back to Joe, Cheese seemed more angry than Joe himself. Cheese is the biological father of Randy Wagstaff, according to series creator David Simon. While Randy and Cheese never meet or refer to one another on the show, Simon has stated that he intended to reveal this fact in Season 5 but was forced by time constraints to cut the scene or scenes establishing the relationship.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/03/the-wire-david.html Appearances Season two Season three Season four Season 5 References Category:Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Season 4 Characters Category:Season 5 Characters Category:Drug dealers